At the Consumer Protection in Financial Services Summit in London Thursday (Sept. 29), Sheldon Mills, executive director for competition and consumers at the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that crypto companies were undeterred by initial failure to obtain licenses to operate in Britain and were submitting new applications.
According to Reuters, he said, “It’s no surprise that I still see many crypto firms still seeking to get licences here in the UK even though some have been denied those licenses at the first pass [...] they know we have a good system of regulation and if they meet our standards that’s important for every jurisdiction that they seek to apply for around the world.”
The FCA scrutinizes crypto firms for their ability to combat financial crime before granting them approval to operate.
In March, the FCA said that just 27 of the 100-plus companies that had applied for crypto registration had been granted approval while 58 had withdrawn their applications.
See also: 21 Crypto Firms Still Awaiting FCA Approval
While applications for FCA approval are proving to be difficult to attain, the EU’s upcoming Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation will allow authorized firms in one member state to passport their license across the whole of the European Economic Area (EEA).
As reported in Reuters, Jean-Marie Mognetti, chief executive of CoinShares, said the company chose to list in Sweden because Britain and the FCA were “not very keen” to see any crypto companies in London.
“If you talk about attractiveness from a regulated activity [perspective], the fact that London is not part of MiCA and will not have passporting in Europe... is going to be a massive handicap,” Mognetti said.
As PYMNTS reported earlier this week, the UK government has argued that general-purpose legal instruments create a more flexible way to regulate the crypto space than purpose-built frameworks like MiCA. Nevertheless, the country has moved to regulate stablecoins and ministers have previously stated their intention to see the country become a global crypto hub.
Read more: UK Government Eyes Crypto Opportunity With ‘Agile’ Legislation
For all PYMNTS EMEA coverage, subscribe to the daily EMEA Newsletter.
